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Sujan R. Chinoy

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Sujan R. Chinoy
Director General, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses
Incumbent
Assumed office
3 January 2019
Ambassador of India to Japan and the Marshall Islands
In office
3 December 2015 – 30 November 2018
Ambassador of India to Mexico and High Commissioner to Belize
In office
2012–2015
Personal details
Born1958 (age 65–66)
NationalityIndian
OccupationCivil Servant (Indian Foreign Service)

Sujan R. Chinoy (born 1958) is a former Indian diplomat currently serving as the Director General of the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA), India's foremost think-tank in New Delhi in the field of defence, security and international relations.[1] The appointment came upon his retirement from the Indian Foreign Service as Indian Ambassador to Japan, which followed a professional diplomatic career of more than thirty-seven years with experience on China and East Asia, as well as the Asia-Pacific region, the Gulf and OIC, United Nations (Disarmament and International Security), National Security, as well as the US and the Latin American region. He held the highest rank of Grade I Ambassador (equivalent to Vice Minister/Secretary to the Government of India).

Career

Ambassador to Japan

He was Indian Ambassador to Japan from 3 December 2015 [2] to 30 November 2018. He was also the Indian Ambassador to the Republic of the Marshall Islands. He facilitated the visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Japan in 2016 and 2018 as well as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visits to India in 2015 and 2017. He contributed to the realization of the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership. Major developments took place during his tenure, including the conclusion of the Shinkansen (Bullet Train/Mumbai Ahmedabad High Speed Rail) project, the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement, the Japanese vocational training centers in India (Japan India Institutes of Manufacturing or "JIMs"), the placement of young Indian professionals in Japanese companies under Japan's Technical Intern Training Programme (TITP) and areas such as healthcare, digital technologies, start-ups, agriculture, food processing, disaster risk reduction, space sciences, earth sciences, oceanography, and many others.

During his term in Japan, India emerged as Japan's largest ODA partner and Japan became one of the top three investors in the Indian economy with a presence in manufacturing, financial markets, acquisitions and mergers, logistics and start ups. Japan participated on key infrastructure project in India, besides becoming linked to all the major flagship initiatives such as Smart City, Swachh Bharat (Clean India), Digital India, Start Up India, Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission, etc.

Other appointments

Chinoy served as Indian Ambassador to Mexico[3] and High Commissioner of India to Belize from 2012 to 2015. He was Additional Secretary in the National Security Council Secretariat in the Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi for several years. He also served for many years as India's Consul General in China (Shanghai) and Australia (Sydney) handling trade and economic portfolios.

Early life

Chinoy was born to Romeshchandra Chinoy, a senior Indian Police Service officer and Usha Chinoy (née Joshi), a well-known musician,[4] social worker and educationist; taught at the Rajkumar College, Rajkot . Usha Chinoy's grandfather, Vaidya Shastri Manishankar Govindji (Maṇicaṅkar Kōvintaji),[5] founded the Ayurveda firm Atank Nigrah Pharmacy[6] in Jamnagar in 1881. The Atank Nigrah Pharmacy was an early multi-national company, with branches in Singapore, Penang (Malaysia), Rangoon (Burma), Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Karachi (in the then undivided India), apart from major cities in India. Chinoy's paternal grandfather, Barrister C. N. Chinoy,[7] was a two-term Dewan (Prime Minister) of the state of Rajkot during the 1930s-1940s after whom the pre-Independence "Infantry Road" in the old Cantonment area of Rajkot was renamed "Barrister Chinoy Road".[8] Chinoy has two sisters, Dr. Parasmani Acharya[9] and Dr. Mala R. Chinoy.[10] Chinoy is a direct descendant of Seth Nanji Jekaran Shah (later Seth Nanji Chinai of Mangrol), an early Jain trader from Mangrol in coastal Saurashtra in Western India who founded the Gujarati community in Kolkata and was also the first Gujarati trader in Shanghai, and lived there for twelve years in the opening decades of the 19th century. The 200-year old Jain Derasar (Temple) in the town of Palitana in the Shatrunjay Mountain Range (in Gujarat), well known as ‘Nanji Chinai’s Chaumukhji Derasar’, was built with donations by Sujan Chinoy's ancestor Seth Nanji Jekaran Shah. This Derasar’s main Jain Tirthankar (nayak) is Chandraprabhu and it has 21 marble statues/idols and one metal statue/idol of each of the various Tirthankars of Jainism.

Education

Chinoy was educated at the Rajkumar College, Rajkot (1965–74), where he excelled in the school's orchestra (sitar) and was a member of the rifle shooting team. He did his BA (Hons.) in English Literature and Psychology and Diploma in German from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, and, his MBA in Marketing from B.K. School of Business Management, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad. He represented his university/district in athletics, rifle-shooting, swimming and bodybuilding. He is also an accomplished rider who has pursued horse-back riding, tent-pegging and show jumping as a hobby. While at the university, Chinoy was a Senior Under Officer in the Infantry Wing of the National Cadet Corps and completed his "C" Certificate, including a special high-altitude ski course at the Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering in Gulmarg. He participated in the All India Inter-University Rifle Shooting Championship held in Chennai in 1976. He was offered a direct commission in the Indian Army but preferred to pursue post-graduate studies and join the Indian Foreign Service in 1981.

He is fluent in Chinese (Mandarin)[11] and has a degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.[12][13] He also knows French, German, Japanese,[14] Arabic, Spanish[15] and French Creole, besides Gujarati, Hindi and Urdu. He was an exchange student at the Otemon Gakuin University in Osaka, Japan in 1978.

Other achievements

Chinoy organised the largest gathering of Yoga enthusiasts outside of India for the event marking the International Yoga Day on 21 May 2015 in Mexico City which witnessed about 6000 participants on the broad Reforma Avenue.[16][17] He gave a sitar performance on 2 October 2013, playing Mahatma Gandhiji's favourite bhajans Raghupati Raghav Rajaram and Vaishnava Jana To, to mark Gandhi Jayanti in Mexico City.[18] He has performed a cameo role in a Gujarati Film titled Sorath No Sinh Chelbhai.[19] At the time of his retirement, he was the senior-most career Ambassador of the Indian Foreign Service overseas, as well as the country's only Gujarati Ambassador.

Personal life

Chinoy is married to Vidya, a Spanish-language expert and a former official of the Ministry of External Affairs of India. They have two children, Kavita and Amar.

References

  1. ^ "Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses -". idsa.in.
  2. ^ "Sujan Chinoy is India's new envoy to Japan". 29 October 2015 – via The Economic Times.
  3. ^ "Gujarati diplomat appointed ambassador to Mexico". The Indian Express. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  4. ^ "Nahin Ye Fikr Koi Rahbar-e-Kaamil Nahin Milta: Usha Chinoy". Sujan Chinoy. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  5. ^ Kōvintaji, Maṇicaṅkar (3 May 2019). "Your Fortune". Atank Nigrah Pharmacy – via Google Books.
  6. ^ "Page 7 Advertisements Column 4". eresources.nlb.gov.sg.
  7. ^ http://archive.middletemple.org.uk/Shared%20Documents/MTAR/updated/1910-1944.pdf
  8. ^ "File 3(17)-P(S)/1940 Rajkot affairs. Appointment by the Thakore Sahib of Mr Anklesaria, C.I.E., as Dewan of the State vice Mr Chinoy, resigned". British Library.
  9. ^ "Dr. Paras Acharya, MD". Healthgrades.com.
  10. ^ "Dr. Mala R. Chinoy". Penn State News. Retrieved 4 October 2005.
  11. ^ Arjunsinh Rathore (30 April 2018). "Sujan Chinoy's remarks in fluent Chinese (Mandarin)" – via YouTube.
  12. ^ "Some alumni of CLC". The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
  13. ^ http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/clc/50/download/clc50album/clc50album42.pdf
  14. ^ Embassy of India in Japan (23 December 2015). "Ambassador Sujan Chinoy's Remarks (Japanese) to Japan-India Association" – via YouTube.
  15. ^ indiaembajada (2 October 2015). "Ambassador Sujan Chinoy's Remarks to Mexican School Children 2 October 2015 Gandhi Jayanti" – via YouTube.
  16. ^ indiaembajada (1 July 2015). "Ambassador Sujan Chinoy's Address #InternationalDayofYoga Mexico" – via YouTube.
  17. ^ indiaembajada (28 June 2015). "Ambassador Sujan Chinoy's address (Spanish) #YogaDay Mexico City" – via YouTube.
  18. ^ "Ambassador Sujan Chinoy's Homage on Sitar to Mahatma Gandhi". Indiaembajada. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  19. ^ "Sujan R.Chinoy in cameo role in Gujarati Film 'Sorath No Sinh Chelbhai' (1980)". Retrieved 28 October 2012.
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